Interviewee Stories

Belinda's Story

"I do find it immensely exciting just seeing what life brings every day. I don’t think I felt this level of excitement even as a small child".
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Barry and Anita's Story

"I want to be like my father. When he died the church was overflowing – I didn’t know he knew so many people. In many ways he’d lived a boring life – he got married, worked hard, retired – and yet there was something important about it. It did strike me as a life worth living."
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William and Helen’s story

"I said to my doctor the other day: ‘This new drug that you might be putting me on, I’ve been told it only works for five years’ and he said to me ‘You’re 78. What do you want me to say? In five years’ time you’ll be 83. Have you got plans?’ I said, ‘I’ve got plans way beyond 83, doctor’."
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Greg and Vicky’s story

"I think we older people have the right attitude – we don’t feel old. I mean, goodness, I’m 65 in three weeks’ time. I don’t feel my age, I don’t think anyone feels their age these days. And all the powers I had when I was younger, I’ve still got those. And I’m still physically very fit."
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Ernest and Diane’s story

"I’ve been retired for 22 years, and it’s been the best part of my life."
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James and Denise’s story

"It doesn’t matter how many people tell you that they are busy all the time in retirement you don’t really understand what they do until you retire yourself – and it’s this nice thing – we are busy people! We are retired! In that sense it’s the nicer times now."
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Richard and Samantha’s story

"We haven’t stopped being the people we were. You don’t, in retirement do you? You don’t stop being the person you are. If you were motivated before you retire, you’ll be motivated after you retire."
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Maddy’s story

"My life was quite constrained before I retired and I feel that I’ve been terribly lucky – I’ve been able to do things in retirement which I’ve wanted to do, which I couldn’t do before. I’ve certainly enjoyed my retirement –as far as I’ve got at the moment!"
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Sam and Joan’s story

"When people ask me what I do in retirement, I say I’m doing all the things I’ve been waiting to do for the last 35 years."
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Wanda’s story

"I don’t feel any need to learn anything. It’s very self-satisfying isn’t it? And part of being old is I don’t have to feel guilty about not doing it, even if everybody else is doing it at 80. I don’t need to."
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"I have enormous freedom and I have enormous independence to do what I want to do. I never have to consult anyone about what I am going to do and I like that."
DG (age 57)

"What do I like best about retirement? We previously lived a very regulated life. I would leave home at 20 past 7 in the morning and I was seldom home before 8 o’clock in the evening. So there was little free time and anything important that we wanted to do needed planning in advance. Now we can be much more spontaneous."
SJ (age 58)

"I think we older people have the right attitude – we don’t feel old. I’m 65 in three weeks’ time. I don’t feel my age, I don’t think anyone feels their age these days. And all the powers I had when I was younger, I’ve still got those. And I’m still physically very fit."
GE (age 60)